THE efforts of a few good men and sponsors willing to invest in the future of Chatsworth football are behind the resurgence of the local football scene, according to the LFA President Spinx Kuppen.
But with only three football fields in the entire Chatsworth region that boast functional change rooms and ablution facilities, managing a league with youth, especially, young women, becomes a challenge.
Independent Newspapers spoke to Kuppen at the Pelican Pharmacy Football Festival this past weekend, and caught a glimpse into the impact the league has on parents and fans.
Kuppen said one of the hardest parts of the job right now was trying to accommodate young female players in the league without proper change rooms for them to use.
“In terms of our facilities, it’s currently a sad state of affairs. There are only three grounds in Chatsworth that have working changerooms and we as the league got sponsors to fix those three. They are the 1009 grounds, 515 and the 1016 grounds. The rest do not have any facilities,” said Kuppen.
“I think the municipality should really come on board but they obviously have their own issues so it’s a bit of a hassle administrating and wanting to grow when your hands are tied behind your back.
“We have a lot of girls in the junior structures but we have so little proper ablution facilities and it’s a highly sensitive thing when we have young women playing in the league. We cannot expect a parent to let their child change out in the open.”
Kelvin Munsamy, Chairman of Greenstroke City FC, said they’ve been training at 306 grounds in Westcliff, Chatsworth, for as “long as he can remember”. Munsamy grew up watching older Greenstroke players at the grounds and now has the privilege of leading the club in his adult life.
He recalled a time when designated municipal officials were stationed at sports fields with the sole purpose of maintaining the facilities.
“That hasn’t happened for a number of years now. Maintenance on our Chatsworth sports fields is a thing of the past. I hear that it’s the same all around Durban but I can only speak for what I see. The only time our field gets watered is when it rains. Our change room honestly looks like a crime den.” said Munsamy.
“I understand why so many parents are put off from sending their children to practice, especially during winter time because it gets darker much earlier. The area does look unsafe and the only time they actually allow their child to come here is when they know we are here.”
Greenstroke City has been a huge part of Munsamy’s life and provides a platform for the Westcliff community to express themselves through football.
“It’s a club with roots steeped in tradition and a club that I hopes to elevate to greater heights during my tenure as chairperson,” he explained.
“Our club was established in 1984 and just concluded our 40 year anniversary and we are proud of that. Over those years, we’ve had many successes and failures but we’ve kept our heads up and provided the locals with an opportunity to express themselves through football.”
(The eThekwini Municipality was asked if they had a budget for maintaining municipal-owned sports fields in the City. They have not responded as yet.)
